Horatia Nelson, 1801-81 (Mrs Horatia Nelson-Ward)

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Object details:

Object ID

ZBA4964

Description

Glazed photograph in a rectagular gilt-metal surround set in a rectangular black-lacquered backing board with a brass suspension ring and hanger in the form of an acorn and oak leaves, top centre. It bears the letters 'NW' in white on the side of the mount which is a Museum mark indicating it is part of the Nelson-Ward collection. The sitter, shown head and shoulders in mourning dress, is Nelson's and Lady Hamilton's daughter Horatia, who in 1822 married the Revd Philip Ward, later Vicar of Tenterden, Kent. The original photograph was taken shortly after his death in 1859, which is why Horatia is shown in mourning: the frame may be of about that date or early 19th-century, since it is of a type called a 'acorn frame', originally used for silhouettes and popular from the late 18th century into the 1840s, but the photographic print is likely to be a later one. Horatia is therefore probably shown at about the age of 58-60, by which time she had had ten children, of which six reached adulthood. Photographic portraits were becoming increasing common at this time but this is the only one known of her and most remarkable for the way that she became recognizably her father's daughter with age, a similarity much less marked when she was young. [PvdM 11/10]